Tim Miller Minnesota House 17A I have spoken with landowners who agree with these buffers and others who say it won't make a difference. The important thing for me here is the government a.) grabbing more land; and b.) Dayton is making enforcement sound like a police state. . . .

On Monday afternoon, Jones objected to the inflamatory rhetoric, then she and Miller engaged each other in a discussion of civility in political speech:

Tim Miller Minnesota House 17A How then should I respond to this: " “It will be enforced — and I mean enforced — by the DNR through aerial and other inspections,” the governor said.

G'ette Jones You could state that the governor intends to enforce it strictly by those means. Then you could explain how you disagree with the need for such measures based on some of the other statements you have made here. Resorting to inflammatory language doesn't move us any closer to actually solving problems, and it contributes to the sense of public disgust with and mistrust of government on the state and national level. Maybe if legislators start speaking rationally, the constituents will sit up and take notice because we haven't heard it in so long.

G'ette Jones Thanks. I don't think you're the only person to do that, but it was an effective example of overstating a concern. If you feel it's too restrictive, that's your point to argue, but doing so in realistic terms makes it far easier to hold a productive discussion. Now, let's get everyone else on the hill to play along.

Hat's off to Mrs. Jones for her instruction on the art of rhetoric--and thumbs up to Representative Miller for having the sense to consider her advice. Let's hope the freshman lawmaker can "get everyone else on the hill to play along."

Photo: Representative Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg).

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"You've Been Conned will open your eyes. It will open your understanding to how Satan steals the true pleasures of our lives, as we are currently seeing in our country. In the past years, Satan has told us that the more you get, the more you have, this and that, you will be fulfilled. This is a big lie. You might be thinking something is missing. There is something you want, and you know that your life is going in the wrong direction. You know just like I do that material things will not give you the pleasure you are looking for. The desperate need you are seeking will not be filled by the lies we hear day in and day out from the world. This book will show you the way you need to take. Spend enough time to learn about Satan’s lies, and you will be changed to something better than gold. This book will allow you to have an intentional life that will help you move forward in the right direction.” Jeff Backer Jr., President of BW Incorporated.

In the portion of the book that's available online, Serocki states that she self-diagnosed herself as experiencing depression during a rough spot in her marriage, and once she turned to the Bible and started to attend church, her husband returned and the work of healing began.

She attributes depression to "Satan conning you into thinking these thoughts . . . Satan has a way of filling our head with lies. Did you know that if you have Jesus in your heart, Satan has no power over you?" (pages 29-30).

Serocki later conflates the use of a dictionary's use of the phrase "low spirits" to mean Satan and demons:

Let me take you back to the dictionary terms and also that Satan knows what the meaning of depression is and what it does to us. Notice that the word depressed in the dictionary refers to low spirits. These would be Satan and his demons, biblically. Satan lives in a depression; Jesus left them there without power, and Satan is thinking he can get even by doing it to God's people. He puts a weight on you and takes you to a lower place. He makes you feel you can't get out, tires you out, breaks the economy, and whatever he can muster up to keep you in that state. I want you to look over the meanings of depression and think about it. They only come from Satan . . .

Bluestem was curious about this take on depression, and contacted a friend who had studied Christian counseling and ministry at Crown College, a fairly conservative school, to ask how common attributing the origins of depression to Satan might be.

A steadfast Christian herself who has experienced severe bouts of depression, she said that the attitude was fairly common. For her, it was difficult when people questioned both the strength of her faith and the medical origins of her medical issues. Bluestem think prayer and faith can be great tools for therapy, but those tools aren't exclusive to Christians, nor should people shun medical help.

We have to wonder what sort of mental health public policy Jeff Backer would support as a legislator who believes that the cause of depression is Satan. Perhaps Daudt's caucus can ask before we start casting out demons and driving the inhabitants of nearby pig farms into Big Stone Lake.

That might not be so good for the state's hog industry or water quality efforts.

Image: Daudt's tweet.

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Aug 01, 2014

While Matt Entenza's new television ad highlights his campaign talking point about the need for the state auditor to battle the drive to privatize public pensions, little light has been shone in the media about where incumbent auditor and endorsed DFL candidate Rebecca Otto stands.

Entenza's take makes it appear that Otto's quietly competent style allows no room in the debate over private pensions. Is this accurate?

In a Pioneer article Wednesday, Entenza said groups such as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce want to privatize public employee pensions, and his last big campaign push ahead of the Aug. 12 primary would be his position against privatization.

While Otto agreed with Entenza insofar as there’s been a push to privatize the pensions of public employees, she said the state auditor does not have the authority to decide whether they are privatized or not.

“The Legislature and the Governor at the end of the day decide if there’s going to be privatization,” she said.

So they agree about the issue, but favor different approaches on the part of the state auditor.

Before Entenza: Otto on privatization

That being noted, we looked for campaign material and public statements from the Otto campaign about her take on efforts to change public employees' retirement benefits from pensions to a defined contribution systems like a 401k.

The Otto Campaign uploaded two YouTube videos in May about protecting public pensions. These videos predate Entenza's entry into the race about a few weeks later. There's the May 4, 2014 upload, Protecting Pensions:

After explaining the PERA system, Otto says:

Remember what I told you about trust? Well, you see we have these groups, that there's an all out assault on public pensions across the country. There are groups that are re-invested in Minnesota to continue to attack our public pension systems in Minnesota. You know what they do? They try to create fear and mistrust: "you know, Minnesota is the next Detroit." That is so far from the truth, I can't even tell you. So what I want to do as state auditor is to continue to refute the misinformation and garbage that these groups are throwing out that are not true about our state. We have well-managed plans. Everybody got hit in the downturn, it just happened. But we had the earliest reforms. We watch our plans, they're dynamic, so I want to continue to do that work, so that people can trust that these plans are well-managed.

On May 14, 2014, the campaign uploaded another informal YouTube, On Public Pensions. This version is embedded on her website.

After Entenza: responding to the CAE report by name

The text on the Otto website delves into the nature of (and sourcing for) those attacks she mentioned in May.:

The assault

There is an all-out assault on public pensions. Lobbyists for the 401(k) industry such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Minnesota’s Center of the American Experiment, and the The Laura and John Arnold foundation have been working to spread disinformation in Minnesota and elsewhere that there is a crisis in public pensions, so they can erode trust in government. The goal is to move public employees to riskier and more expensive 401(k)-style plans that are failing so many employees who work in the private sector. Common tactics are to claim that Minnesota is going to be the next Detroit and that taxpayers are on the hook for public pension costs, or that pension benefits are excessive.

The truth

Minnesota has been prudent and disciplined about managing its public pensions and has a history of addressing funding shortfalls before there is a crisis. Reforms implemented have been through shared sacrifice by employers as well as retired and active employees.

Major ratings agencies such as Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s have good things to say about Minnesota’s pension obligations, which would hardly be the case if Minnesota or its major cities were on the verge of a Detroit-style calamity. See the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA).

Over the past 20 years, deductions from public employees' paychecks made up about 14% of the three statewide public pension systems' revenues, and 16% was from employers. The other 70% has been from investment returns. This refutes the claim that taxpayers are on the hook for all of Minnesota's public pension liability.

The pension plans provide our public employees with a modest retirement income. For example, the average PERA monthly benefit is about $1,300 per month. See PERA.

Rebecca Otto supports public pensions

As a trustee on the PERA board, Rebecca is a strong fiduciary on behalf of the taxpayers and the members of the plan. She works to make sure that the plan is financially sustainable for the long term.

Moveover, MAPE, a public employees' union, cited her oversight of investments on the board in their December 2013 endorsement. While AFSCME Council 5 declined to endorse in the race, other unions with significant public employee membership--the Teamsters Joint Council (Local 320), SEIU State Council (an education local), and the Minnesota Nurses Association--have endorsed Otto.

Entenza said his campaign's last big push ahead of the Aug. 12 primary vote would center on public employee pensions. He claimed groups such as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the League of Minnesota Cities are pushing for the state to privatize pensions by changing them from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution pensions, like 401Ks.

"With a defined contribution pension, you have no idea what you're going to get on the back end (at retirement)," he said. "Your only hope is that you've saved so much that if the market roller coaster...hurts you, you might be able to survive it."

Entenza's position on pensions exemplifies his approach toward the duties of state auditor, he said.

"We think one of the big differences between myself and the incumbent auditor... her view of the office is...focus on balancing the books and not to look at what she calls 'policy issues,'" he said. "But I think that it's essential that in Minnesota -- given the fact that we've got $80 billion in pension asserts that we manage -- that not only do we manage them carefully, but that we avoid the pitfalls of privatization."

As Auditor, I will protect the pensions of retired Minnesotans who earned them through decades of honest work in our great state.

Wall Street has no business managing pensions.

When I was growing up in Worthington, I saw firsthand how family members and neighbors depended on their hard earned retirement savings to pay the bills and put food on the table. Too often these days, we hear stories about how folks who worked hard and played by the rules their whole lives have their retirement at risk by poorly managed pension funds and Wall Street middle-men that charge exorbitant fees.

Privatization of pensions is unacceptable.

Minnesotans' pensions should not be privatized and that Wall-Street middle men have no business near our pension plans. That’s why I believe the Auditor’s office can do much more to make sure that our public pensions are strong and well-managed. As auditor, I will make protecting pensions a top priority by taking a hard look at our state’s pension investments to insure that pensions are not being privatized and that wall-street interests are not fleecing retirement fund. I will be a watchdog over our pensions funds by shedding light on potential abuses so our seniors and future retirees can have confidence that the retirement they earned is their when we need it.

That's fairly vague in comparison to Otto's language, and it's difficult to see what he's proposing that Otto is not, while she specifically addresses the most public of recent attacks on Minnesota's system of public pensions.

Much of this fight--one picked by the self-funded Entenza--appears to come down to style. Given that they both favor retaining a system of public pensions, while fightng off privatization, we wonder if it comes down to personality or temperament: the self-promoter versus the "invisible," those folks who possess The Three Most Important Traits of People Who Make the World Work.

By proclaiming November to be "Muslim Appreciation Month," the current occupant of the White House has reached a new low.

Paradoxically, I agree. Americans do need to thoroughly appreciate Islam and its' Muslims.

To fully appreciate Islam, I recommend these books: 'What Americans Need to Know About Islam' by Michael Federer and 'Barbarian Cruelty' by Francis Brooks. First published in 1693, 'Barbarian Cruelty' is available from T.B.R. Book Club, P.O. Box 15877, Washington D.C. 20003 for $9 and $4 S&H.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Gene Thomas Kornder

Bluestem believes a word to the wise is not only only sufficent, but necessary for those reading this letter. Let's unpack this one, beginning with "Muslim Appreciation Month."

Pants on fire: Polifacts and Snopes on "Muslim Appreciation Month"

Apparently, the editors of the Belle Plaine Herald have not learned that Google is their friend, as it's possible this missive might not have seen the light of day had they simply tossed "Muslim Appreciation Month" into the search engine.

The piece was packed with fake details designed to press anti-Muslim
buttons: President Barack Obama held a news conference to make his
declaration. He said Muslims "are not all bad. In fact, most of them are
good."

His announcement was hailed by a "member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s
Freedom and Justice Party." He said he would work with Congress to make
it easier for Muslims to earn U.S. citizenship.

"Mr. Matei of the Muslim Brotherhood assured me they want to come to
this country to help us, not harm us," he was reported to say.

Following other attempts to paint Obama as a Muslim -- such as this one that we rated Pants on Fire -- the National Report’s gambit worked.

"How dare Obama declare November, the month when we give thanks to
God for our blessings and great nation, National Muslim Appreciation
Month!" wrote a blogger for Tea Party Nation.

The PolitiFact inbox saw email after email with links to such stories from readers who got it from outraged friends.

Urban-legend debunker Snopes.com quickly confirmed that it originated with National Report.

The headline was utterly invented, and the event was entirely fabricated. . . .

Snopes.com's debunking of the bloggers' inability to understand satire closes with the recognition of a nice touch on the part of the National Report writer:

The phone number given at the end of the National Report article for contacting the "24-hour National Muslim Appreciation Hotline" actually belongs to the notorious Westboro Baptist Church.

Uffda.

White nationalism: the Barnes Review and Willis Carto

Bluestem doesn't wonder that Kornder missed that one, since he's recommending books available through the TBR Book Club, an adjunct venue of the notorious white nationalist publication, the Barnes Review. Unlike the folly of witless bloggers failing to understand satire, the Barnes Review and its founder Willis A.Carto are no laughing matters.

The Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Files entry for the Barnes Review begins:

Founded by Willis Carto in 1994, The Barnes Review (TBR) is one of the most virulent anti-Semitic organizations around. Its flagship journal, The Barnes Review,
and its website, Barnesreview.org, are dedicated to historical
revisionism and Holocaust denial. The organization is also a moneymaking
enterprise. Besides journal subscriptions, its TBR Book Club and online
bookstore promote and sell a wide range of extremist books and
publications. The Barnes Review also hosts nearly annual
conferences that attract an international crowd of antigovernment
extremists, anti-Semites, white supremacists, and racist conspiracy
theorists.

Voters in most of Le Sueur County and other parts of state Senate
District 20 won’t be able to use the old “they’re all the same, anyway”
excuse for not voting in the Aug. 14 primary election. . . .

At times Kornder sounds like other Republican candidates: “More people
work for government than for private enterprise, and this situation is
unsustainable.”

Mostly, though, he sounds different.

Kornder wants to look into whether powerful energy companies are
suppressing revolutionary new forms of energy such as small-scale
nuclear fusion reactors. He’d like to abolish the income tax and
believes property taxes are unconstitutional under the Minnesota
Constitution.

He wants to shut down the Metropolitan Council and shift its revenue
into a new “Bank of Minnesota,” patterned after the Bank of North Dakota
formed by the Nonpartisan League a century ago. That would allow the
state to pay interest to itself when borrowing, Kornder said.

Kornder would shrink government and fund it with sales and excise
taxes, making the excise taxes progressive when possible — applying
higher rates, for instance, to luxury cars than to lower-end models.
That’s much preferable to property taxes, which are a tax on wealth, and
income taxes, which tax the production of wealth, he said.

“If you tax wealth and the production of wealth, you’re actually
limiting or destroying these things,” said Kornder, who has previously
run unsuccessfully for the Belle Plaine School Board and the state House
(in 1978 as a member of The American Party).

In response to a questionnaire from the Northfield News, Kornder summed
up his motivation for running: “I offer those who are disappointed with
the current leadership, those who support Ron Paul, Tea Partiers, 911
Truthers, Birthers and Conspiracy ‘freaks,’ the opportunity to put
someone in the Minnesota Senate who will make a difference.”

Kornder told the Belle Plaine Herald (among other things):

What facets of the Republican Party would you change?

In recent decades, the neo-cons, evangelical-Zionists and RINOs
(Republicans In Name Only), have transformed the Republican Party into a
tool of the New World Order. I am determined to reverse this.

It's no wonder that Dudley won; what we wonder about is the sanity of the 400 people who voted for this guy, as well as the discernment of the editors who ran the letter.

Photo: A double facepalm from Washington.

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The New Ulm Actors Community Theatre's production of "Inherent the
Wind"?was canceled last week due to cast dropouts stemming from
objections by Martin Luther College professors and local WELS members
over the play's depiction of the evolution/creationism debate.

NUACT
originally slated the play as its fall production with MLC student Zach
Stowe as director. The play deals with a fictionalized version of the
evolution/creationism debate in the 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial." The play
is also a metaphor for criticizing the suppression of free expression
under the McCarthyism of the 1950s.

The play was not slated to be
performed at MLC, but a final audition was scheduled on campus on
Friday, Aug. 30. NUACT previously used MLC for auditions, rehearsals and
performances.

After seeing the poster for the audition, several MLC professors
raised objections about the play's subject to the administration. . . .

Althought the director, who is a student at Martin Luther College, believes in creationism, he believes his creative freedom has been limited by the college. Moniz reports:

[MLC's VP of Student Life Jeffrey] Schone informed Stowe on the morning of the audition that it could
not be held on campus. The audition was then rescheduled to a new
location.

On the following Tuesday (Sept. 3), Stowe resigned from
the play. He cited a flood of e-mails and letters objecting to his
association with the play from MLC professors and local WELS members for
his decision. He was also concerned that MLC administration would
maybe take their concerns further if the outcry kept growing, so he
decided to focus on the more important issue of his schooling.

However,
he said he felt his creative freedom had been stifled and that he was
very disappointed that some of the criticism seemed to come from MLC. He
said he shares WELS' belief in creationism. He said he believes open
discussion about the topic is essential to proving its validity.

. . . When writing Inherit the Wind, the playwrights were not
concerned with the controversy between evolution and creation, the focus
of the Scopes trial. Instead, they were concerned with the censoring or
limiting of an individual's freedom to think. The authors used the
issue of evolution as a metaphor for control over an individual's
thoughts or beliefs. . .

Who knew? Indeed, one wonders if the MLC professors had ever read the script to which they so object as to shut down an audition on campus, triggering the withdrawal of actors and eventual abandonment of the production.

The American Library Association's Banned Books Week resources website recommends the 1960 Stanley Kramer movie version of the play for First Amendment film festivals:

Film and video productions can vividly depict the impact of censorship
on individuals and society. Consider screening a film or sponsoring a
First Amendment film festival for Banned Books Week. Public performance of these videos and DVDs may require a license. Vendors provide information at Motion Picture Licensing Corporation and Movie Licensing USA. Note, though, that many documentaries come with public performance licenses. . . .

" Inherit the Wind," director Stanley Kramer's stellar
work based on the fictionalized Broadway play depicting the Scopes
Monkey Trial and William Jennings Bryan's and Clarence Darrow's debate
on teaching evolution in the public schools. (1960, 128m, United
Artists/MGM)

Six
days before Bachmann officially launched her presidential campaign last
month, the Minnesota Republican and her family verbally requested to
leave Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minn., which is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).

When Michele Bachmann quits you, that might be a sign your doctrine is a tad narrow.

Image: Poster for 1960 film version of "Inherit the Wind."

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Oct 01, 2012

A kind journalist friend who had been sent "Builders of Our Land," CD7 Republican candidate Lee Byberg's slender volume about how to spawn "a Movement to Restore America's Land of Opportunity" passed it along to Bluestem Prairie.

It's everything one might expect from Byberg: a restoration to a mythic American Christian patriarchy, big agriculture and biotech, local control of education and private charity taking over public assistance.

It's probably not going to help sweep the pragmatic Peterson out of office. It's a bit silly.

LOVE INC: Heckova model

That Byberg is a man of good intentions seems clear; he simply falters on the details of translating those intentions into sound policy. Take the faith-based charity and mentoring for the needy and disabled in Douglas County that Byberg touts: Love INC.

His glowing prose about the group's work--and his conclusion:

That organization helps hundreds of people, right there locally. And it does a better job than the federal government. How much government bloat could we remove if we let local communities meet the needs of their residents? (p. 57)

persuaded me to look more closely at Love INC. Reading the national office's 2011 annual report, Bluestem concluded that perhaps Byberg might continue to look for another example of model to replace "government bloat":

That opening line from Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities, is a very appropriate way to summarize 2011 for the Love In the Name of Christ Movement. Love INC affiliates around the country experienced the affects of the national economic downturn as requests for help increased. But with the increase in need an increase in min-istry also occurred as more people got to experience the Love of Christ through church volunteers than ever before, and more lives were transformed.

One of the great mysteries of the Christian life is that it is the hardships and sufferings we experience that draw us closer to Christ, and it is the hardships and sufferings we go through that make us stronger and better than we were before. At the beginning of 2011 Love INC National experienced the worst of times. Due to a lack of funds, and not wishing to incur any debt, the Board of Directors made the very hard decision to close down the national office and begin a strategic restructuring process that looked at every aspect of the Love INC Movement. Between February and June, the board interviewed and surveyed affiliates to get their input and developed a re-structuring plan for moving forward.

Perhaps there's something more robust that Byberg might recommend. However, the example is one of the more concrete suggestions Byberg makes in his book.

LOVE INC also insists that all staff and volunteers be Christians professing the Apostle's Creed, so it's not likely to catch on in communities that aren't served by churches.

Mistaking the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for Jefferson

The Willmar businessman also seems to suffer from the David Barton syndrome of mis-attributing quotes to founding fathers that they never said. At the close of Builders Of Our Land, Byberg offers a "Prayer for America by President Thomas Jefferson" offered on March 4, 1805 and reprinted in "America's God and Country" by former congressional candidate and pseudohistorian William Federer:

Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our
heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a
people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land
with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and
arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion
into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds
and tongues. Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those to whom in Thy Name we entrust
the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at
home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy
praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the
day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we
ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

It's a lovely prayer, and it looked familiar. Indeed: a little bit of research led to Monticello's Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, which attributed it to a volume dear to many Episcopalians: the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

Jefferson didn't write it:

This prayer was not written or delivered by Thomas Jefferson. It is in fact from the 1928 United States Book of Common Prayer. Explanations of the 1928 revision of the Book of Common Prayer make no mention of an earlier source for the prayer,[1] which is identified simply as "For Our Country."[2]

Interestingly, although we can find no evidence that this prayer has a
presidential source, it was used by a subsequent president in a public
speech. Several months after his 1930 Thanksgiving Day Address as
Governor of New York, it was pointed out that Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's speech bore a striking resemblance to the very same prayer
discussed above.[3]

Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Jefferson would have composed or
delivered a public prayer of this sort. He considered religion a
private matter, and when asked to recommend a national day of fasting
and prayer, replied "I consider the government of the United States as
interdicted by the Constitution from inter meddling with religious
institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises..."[4]

Byberg mentions that America's morals been going to hell in a handbasket for generations, so Jefferson's administration might have gotten the ball rolling.

Minnesota Representative Glenn Gruenhagen sent his constituents his weekly email newsletter Tuesday, cautioning them to purchase fishing licenses now in advance of the looming likelihood of a state government shutdown.

However, the Sibley County legislator was not content to leave it at that practical level, and concluded with a recommendation for a little summer reading:

I still hope we can find a breakthrough with the budget in time to avert a shutdown and I will keep you posted as things develop. I did come across an interesting Wall Street Journal article that shows how Gov. Dayton’s “tax the rich” plan has backfired elsewhere. Here is the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329282377252471.html.

However, his constituents may wish to consider whether the reading is beach-ready as commentary or as fiction. Though the Wall Street Journal article is an article of faith among those advocating an anti-tax-the-rich agenda, the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy suggested in 2009 that the millionaires hadn’t moved to a new state, but rather to a different tax bracket...

May 19, 2011

Why are local chambers of commerce from across the state calling for "a budget compromise that includes both cuts and a state revenue increase"? One item ripped from today's headlines underscores how cuts can affect Greater Minnesota residents, communities and businesses.

As a young girl who loved books, I looked forward to the weekly summer stops of the local bookmobile at the lake where I grew up. During the school year, books were always available through the school library, but summer could be hard. Both parents worked in factories and books were expensive--and so the service was deeply savored.

Bookmobile lovers in Blue Earth County nursing homes, day cares, home schools and Head Starts are probably going to be feeling the hit of tight government budgets next year, maybe even later this summer.

Blue Earth County is hoping to cut its contribution to the mobile library from about $35,000 to $10,000 and is proposing eliminating the specialized stops at old folks homes and kid-heavy facilities.

“We have to look at the whole budget virtually every year these days because revenues are not going up and some of the expenses are,” said Blue Earth County Administrator Bob Meyer. . . .

. . .Tim Hayes, the county’s director of library services, wrote in a letter to North Mankato that staff reviewed all of the stops in Blue Earth County, including the number of patrons and the amount of materials checked out. The county’s proposal is to cut its contribution by about 70 percent and eliminate all stops except single offerings in Good Thunder, Garden City, Amboy, Vernon Center, Pemberton and St. Clair — cities without public libraries.

Now, although I was born in Blue Earth County, I grew up mostly in neighboring LeSueur County, but I doubt that kids who like to read have changed much in either place. And although the internet is available, I think those kids are going to have a lot less opportunity than I had as a rural child.

What's behind the cutbacks? The MFP's Mark Fischenich reports:

Meyer noted that no final decisions have been made by the County Board about the future of bookmobile service in the county. But with local governments facing likely reductions in aid from the cash-strapped Legislature, the county is being cautious about any spending commitments.

It's a small cut, as far as cuts go. But I wonder what little kids won't get hooked on reading, who won't develop the skills to succeed in school. What local business person will shake his or her head in a few years, wondering what happened to kids these days?

Now, that's a county cut, but the library systems in rural Minnesota are funded by county and city resources, all of which are under scrutiny by the axemen. The BEC bookmobile is operated by the City of North Mankato's library.

You heard it here first, dear Scoop reader. Chambers of Commerce aren't usually known as the liberal, bleeding heart-sort, but a coalition of suburban and out-state chambers say that cuts in state aid to cities have rippled consequences, such as raising city property taxes.

They're calling on the Legislature to spare local government aid as it proceeds to narrow down a $5 billion spending gap and hammer out a workable budget in the six days remaining in the session. Yowza!

It's not a surprise from this distance. It's common sense. The press release that spawned the astonishment of the pixel-stained wretches notes:

Local chambers of commerce from across the state gathered Monday for a State Capitol press conference to explain that local government aid is critical to business growth and livable communities throughout the state and that the governor and legislature must come together to produce a budget compromise that includes both cuts and a state revenue increase.

The group said that the disproportionate cuts to LGA over the past years have driven up property taxes 65% across the state since 2002, with greater Minnesota taking the biggest hits.

“We already know what a tax increase looks like. It looks like this - a property tax statement - which our businesses and families have been slapped with year after year because of the continued cuts to LGA, and we’ve had enough of that,” said Dan Dorman, a former Republican state representative and current executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency.

Read the whole release for more of the flavor, which includes the Republican former legislator calling for not just "common sense," but "good old fashioned Minnesota common sense."

Concerned about rising property taxes hurting Main Street businesses, a number of chambers of commerce from across Minnesota gathered Monday to support the Local Government Aid program, which faces drastic cuts under Republican budget plans.

At a State Capitol press conference, chamber representatives explained that LGA is critical to business growth and livable communities throughout the state.

They called for compromise, saying the governor and Legislature must come together to produce a budget compromise that includes both cuts and a state revenue increase. . . .

The paper agreed:

. . .Republicans appear willing to throw a lot of vulnerable people off the roof — including renters, seniors and middle class property tax payers — to block Dayton’s 2 percent income tax hike on the state’s wealthiest residents.

May 08, 2011

Watching Matt Dean and the House caucus pivot away from their original anti-arts and MPR message on Wednesday (based on a committee hearing and Dean interview on Tuesday) to a lazer-focused tiny library cut on Friday's coverage is fascinating.

On Wednesday, the Strib reported that the bill Dean Urdahl submitted and discussed in committee on Tuesday had to do with making grant programs for the arts and public radio competitive. In GOP targets Legacy funds for MPR, arts, readers learned:

Republicans made an abrupt move with a new bill to end earmarks and require competition for money.

House Republicans are reexamining state funding for some key arts and cultural heritage groups -- a move that may take political aim at Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Zoo and other entities that have gotten special appropriations.

In an unusual move on Tuesday, Rep. Dean Urdahl, who chairs the House Legacy Funding Division panel, introduced a new version of a Legacy amendment funding bill that would remove specific money recommendations for the state's influential public radio network and other cultural organizations and said they would instead compete for grants.

Urdahl, who struggled at times during a hearing to explain the sudden move, said it was partly the suggestion of Republican legislative leaders.

Legislation that Urdahl's panel adopted less than a week ago recommended that Minnesota Public Radio receive $2 million in Legacy money over the next two years, that public television get $7.8 million and that an assortment of minority groups, including the Council on Black Minnesotans, share $1 million.

In the new version, most of the groups that previously were to get specific appropriations would now have to compete for the money.

House Majority Leader Matt Dean said he reminded Urdahl of the "importance of making sure he has [Republican] caucus support" for Legacy funding for arts and cultural heritage projects, an area of spending that Dean acknowledged had rankled some Republicans. "MPR, it's safe to say, has been a concern in the past," said Dean.

Dean also singled out a $45,000 payment of Legacy money that was made last year to science fiction writer Neil Gaiman for a four-hour speaking appearance. Dean said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."

Were either Urdahl or Dean articulating one word about the fund from which Gaiman was paid? Why, no.

But by Friday, the Strib reports the House Republican Caucus has pivoted so that the major changes in the bill are ignored--and the "furor" over the library's payment to Gaiman led to a focused, indeed petty, cut to the total library appropriation.

In Furor keeps building over author's $45,000 speech fee, it's as if Dean's original junior high taunt never hopped out of the Majority Leader's mouth to justify changes to the way in which grants to the arts and radio are distributed. It wasn't about the libraries on Tuesday.

Update: A reader commented that since the fee wasn't $45,000, this reduction makes the Republicans look even more petty. From an interview in the City Pages:

The entire controversy from last year consisted of a Republican blog drawing attention to this speaking gig, using the $45,000, which actually wasn't the true number, but it got picked up.

I received a grand total of $33,600, and I know because I checked this morning. That went to charity. I'd been doing a bunch of library-based events. It was at the end of a week where I'd done a huge pro bono Comic Book Legal Defense fund event, then I'd gone to Indianapolis to receive the Kurt Vonnegut award for literature, and then I was coming home.[end update]

Now the story is simply about $45,000 being cut from the regional libraries--but nothing about the larger change in Legacy appropriations that formed the heart of Wednesday's coverage.

Readers learn now:

The feud between celebrity author Neil Gaiman and House Majority Leader Matt Dean took several bizarre twists Thursday, when lawmakers threatened retaliation against local libraries, Gaiman threatened retaliation against Dean, and the cast of characters expanded to include Snooki from MTV's "Jersey Shore.''

The action started when a House Republican committee chair said he is recommending a $45,000 cut in the Twin Cites' regional library system budget to make up for the state Legacy money it paid last year to Gaiman for a speaking appearance.

Gaiman quickly defended his speaking fees, saying they are comparable to those charged by Snooki, the reality TV star.

Way to cover for the boss, Mr. Urdahl. Funny how that wasn't important enough to bring up Tuesday in the Legacy bill discussion in your committee.

And indeed, there's only a summary about the "concerns" that Republicans had that are leading to bigger changes:

Dean' comments, however, underscored the ongoing concerns of the Republican majority about Legacy money being spent on arts and cultural projects as the Legislature struggles to solve a $5.1 billion budget deficit. The Legacy amendment, passed in 2008 with considerable financial support from arts groups in Minnesota, raised the state sales tax for 25 years to fund outdoors, clean water, parks and trails and arts and cultural heritage projects.

And Urdahl says his concern are leading him to cut a sliver from the regional library funds:

Urdahl, himself an author, said, "I simply subtracted out $45,000 -- just making a point," in explaining why he cut the library system's proposed Legacy budget to $3.45 million. The Legacy funding proposal, including the reduced budget for the regional library system, is being reviewed by legislators.

That wasn't the point Urdahl and Dean made in their respective committee hearing and interview on Tuesday.

So--Bluestem returns to its original point: if Gaiman's fee is all they've got--and it came from a fund in which the basic formula isn't changed--why are grants to public broadcasting and arts board projects to be made competitive?

Why the "fix" on programs for which neither Matt Dean nor Dean Urdahl has been able to offer any evidence--however juvenilely expressed--as to the nature of their "concerns" that is at the core of the major changes offered in Urdal's bill?

What "concerns" and what evidence do the Republicans have that something is amiss in other cultural programs? Or do they simply disagree with the will of the voters who passed the Legacy amendment? Do they have more than a shout out to stereotypes about individual artists to justify changes?

May 04, 2011

Matt Dean, who shared a case of political Tourette's in today's Star Tribune when he called science fiction writer Neil Gaiman "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota," learned that today.

Wow. did Matt Dean really say that? Did he really call Twin Cities writer Neil Gaiman a "pencil-necked little weasel" who "stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota"? Did he really say, on the House floor, that he hated him?

Good question. It may be that Majority Leader Matt Dean only said it in an interview with the Star Tribune for the article, GOP targets Legacy funds for MPR, arts, but say it he did. The bill, introduced by Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) was discussed yesterday by the House Legacy Funding Division panel:

In an unusual move on Tuesday, Rep. Dean Urdahl, who chairs the House Legacy Funding Division panel, introduced a new version of a Legacy amendment funding bill that would remove specific money recommendations for the state's influential public radio network and other cultural organizations and said they would instead compete for grants.

Urdahl, who struggled at times during a hearing to explain the sudden move, said it was partly the suggestion of Republican legislative leaders.

I listened to the audio recording of the discussion by the panel, and Dean's junior high taunt isn't there. But Gaiman learned of the remark, wherever it was uttered, and fired back, Hertzel reports:

On Twitter, Gaiman fired back. "Sad & funny. Minnesota Republicans have a 'hate' list. Like Nixon did. I'm on it," he posted this morning, followed by, "It's strange watching a grownup high school bully in power. But the bully vocabulary remains the same."

A few minutes later, "Any nice, sane Minnesota Republicans reading this, please vote for someone who isn't a bully with a hate list next time."

And, a few minutes after that, "Bizarrely, the twit who called me a pencilnecked weasel has posted my blog on his and claims copyright on it." Gaiman then posted a link to Dean's blog, which very quickly crashed. Gaiman tweeted one more time to apologize.

Targeting arts and MPR but not libraries (hint: one was Gaiman's host)

Looking over the bill and reviewing the source of funding for Gaiman's visit, it looks like Dean's remarks are intended as red meat for the art-hating part of the GOP base. and perhaps a stick to make Dean Urdahl stay in line.

4.22These amounts are appropriated to the 4.23commissioner of education for grants 4.24allocated using existing formulas under 4.25Minnesota Statutes, section 134.355, to the 4.2612 Minnesota regional library systems, to 4.27provide educational opportunities in the arts, 4.28history, literary arts, and cultural heritage 4.29of Minnesota. These funds may be used 4.30to sponsor programs provided by regional 4.31libraries or to provide grants to local arts and 4.32cultural heritage programs for programs in 4.33partnership with regional libraries.

See anything there about making the funds part of a competitive grant process? Nope? Neither do I. This isn't the first time Republicans have made Gaiman's visit a whipping boy for all arts funding.

Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean of Dellwood is apologizing for calling author Neil Gaiman a "pencil-necked little weasel," but isn't backing off of his criticism for Gaiman collecting a $45,000 speaking fee from state taxpayers.

Dean originally made the comment while talking about changes to how the state's Legacy Funds for the arts are distributed. Dean says he's sorry he called Gaiman a name but thinks he shouldn't have taken the fee for speaking at the Stillwater library last year.

"My mom is staying with us right now because my wife's out of town," Dean said. "She was very angry this morning and always taught me not to be a name caller. And I shouldn't have done it, and I apologize."

CP: All right. Well thanks for speaking about this. We're trying to reach Matt Dean too to see what we can learn from him.

NG: See if you can get a quote from him! Find out why he hates me! Hate is such an amazingly strong word.

I feel like this is one of those moments where I'm going to discover that I stole his parking space, or had sex with his sister and didn't know.

There's also the really sort of weird kinky republican thing of maybe he likes me, and this is some sort of weird cry for attention. The whole "I hate you, you're a pencil-neck" thing, and then he'll try for some sort of reconciliation and then the next thing you know he's putting his hand on my leg. It's just going to be weird. It could be awkward.

Parry opens the show by calling it, "the official news." Is this "official news"--which discusses partisan campaign strategy--produced at the expense of the Republican caucus or by the State of Minnesota? Are state time and equipment used to produce the show? Don't state ethics rules forbid partisan campaigning on the public's dime? If taking about a party campaign strategy, as Senate Majority Leader Koch and Parry do at the beginning of the show, isn't partisan, what is? [end update]

Parry was in the midst of his first show on Thursday. The first show will include the majority leader, Republican Sen. Amy Koch and her colleague Sen. David Hann, who will discuss bills he has recently introduced.

When asked if the opposition, the DFL, would be allowed to speak on the program, Parry said, “Those doors are open.”

Senator Mike Parry, “Inside the Senate” host, stated, “I look forward to this opportunity to communicate with the public through a weekly radio program. With massive budget and jobs deficits, it’s more important now than ever that we create a constructive dialogue with people as we seek the best solutions to move Minnesota forward. ‘Inside the Senate’ gives people with busy lives and busy schedules a consistent, focused update on the news of the legislature.”

“Inside the Senate” will feature Senate Republicans as guests to discuss legislative initiatives, session updates and other news of the legislature. Listeners are able to submit questions and comments to the show via email at insidethesenate@gmail.com.

This program is produced and authorized by the Senate Republican Majority Caucus. It is offered as a free public news service and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s campaign committee. Copies of the program are available upon request.

Perhaps my readers could send in questions about where the senate majority plans to cut programs. And, since Mike Parry told the local paper that the door is open to DFLers, I think it's in order for Senator Dick Cohen to be a guest on the show.

Would Parry answer the questions he refused to address on the floor of the state senate?

It's also worth observing that--unlike live radio shows hosted by former Governors Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty--the "dialogue" Parry welcomes doesn't seem to be coming from callers, but from email. Former Governor Pawlenty took some harsh questions live, as noted by a Hot Dish Politics post from March 2010.

Not that the post about the Republican Caucus show in the Strib's Hot Dish Politics could note the difference between live and taped shows.

A weekly radio show hosted by Minnesota's governor has been a staple of the state's airwaves since the days of Jesse Ventura. Now, the state Senate's Republican leadership has decided to get into the act.

The show, dubbed "Inside the Senate," will launch at 10 a.m.Friday on talk station KOWZ AM-1170 in Owatonna -- slightly outside the Twin Cities media market.

A non-answer about questions about the cost of production dutifully provided in an update:

It was not immediately clear exactly how the show will be paid for; when a response comes from the caucus, it will be posted here. UPDATE: Caucus spokesman Christopher Van Guilder said no money is changing hands to broadcast the show, that "we are providing content that they are choosing to air." "We are not campaigning" on the show, he said.

"Providing content"? Good one. The last paragraph of the Republican caucus's press release sounds an awful lot like disclosure language for an independent expenditure, and indeed, it will be interesting to see whether this Republican news shows up on the year-end campaign finance report from the Republican senate campaign committee, or if the content is being produced at public expense.

While neither director/stockholder gave any money to Parry's campaign (or at least not enough to trigger disclosure under Minnesota campaign finance rules), it's safe to say that John Linder contributes to Republican candidates--and thus might be a Republican.

Perhaps no money needs to exchange hands in this content sharing among like-minded friends and former colleagues. According to his Linked-In profile, Parry was employed as a general manager for the Linder Farm Network from 1999 through 2007.

Always on top of things, Parry said that he hadn't heard about Dayton's request for bids for a radio show. However, I can't fault him for being out of the loop. He's been equally clueless about when his own show was airing.

Parry first tweeted about the program on February 18 (at 11:11 a.m., according to a mouse-over pop-up on Twitter):

That's six days before press release, PIM and Hot Dish Politics article, and Parry's discussion with a local reporter about how he was taping his first show, and a full week before he appeared on Almanac.

I've emailed the station to ask if indeed "Inside the Senate" aired on February 18 at 10:00 a.m., over a hour before Perry--or someone--tweeted about the great show.

This isn't the only time of late that Parry gets a little fishy about what's going on. In yesterday's Owatonna People's Press article, Parry: Show us results, or face cuts to funding, Parry reveals that his understanding of arts funding is at best a muddle:

. . . “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’re going to hold the arts harmless or that you’re not going to get a cut,” Republican Sen. Mike Parry told a group of arts advocates on Saturday. “It’s just a fact of life — there is no room for any tax increases whatsoever.”

Many may have heard of the Legacy Act, a fund for the environment and culture that the electorate OK’d in 2008. However, a large chunk of Minnesota’s arts funding does come from the state’s general fund. As fate would have it, much of the arts funding in the state will come through Parry’s committee. Parry chairs the State Government Innovations and Veterans Committee. . . .

In the meeting with local arts advocates described in the article, Parry questioned the accountability of their organizations, citing the case of a best-selling children's author paid $45,000 to appear at the Stillwater Public Library (The event was part of the Club Book program sponsored by the Metropolitan Library Services Agency, which received a $150,000 grant for the project for public readings by authors. The money was drawn from Legacy funds allocated for regional library systems).

The arts advocates pointed out that out to Parry-- and that the money didn't come out of arts funding over which the committee he chairs has oversight--but Legacy funds--and that it was not given to arts organizations:

Update: A reader who remembers such things emailed to say that while "Quick on the Uptake" was running on AM950, the DFL Senate and House Caucus supplied some content. According to this reader, sometimes it was taped, while other times caucus staffers showed up. "Quick on the Uptake" ended on July 27, 2010, after host Mike McIntee decided to devote time to his video production business and the Uptake itself. If this reader is correct, "Inside the Senate" isn't exaclty the bright shiny object the old media was so fascinated with last week, though it certainly is more formal than the content supplied to KOWZ. [end update]

A look at Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's new book cover helped end
what had been an ongoing source of curiosity here in the Post-Bulletin
newsroom. A few months ago, Post-Bulletin reporter John Weiss had
spotted the governor posing for professional photos at Frontenac State
Park near Red Wing. But Pawlenty's spokesman would never say what those
photos were for.

Now we know.Frontenac State Park serves as the
background for the cover to Pawlenty's new book — Courage to Stand: An
American Story. It features the governor standing on the bluff with Lake
Pepin in the background and a tough, determined look on his face.

"Tough look" is one way to read the expression on his face. Other local wags suggested that it might have been a burrito that produced that look.

And there's always a critic in the crowd. A friend from high school suggested a different background, and the divine Tild did the rest.

The text that Engstrand so admires is "Not Yours To Give," attributed to Davy Crockett. The Republican from Pine island isn't the only one to cite the passage with regard to health care reform: a google search shows it's making the rounds again.

In the Sylvester Ellis version for which Engstrand provided a link, Crockett is scolded by constituent
Horatio Bunce for an earlier congressional vote to provided for woman and children displaced by a fire. Bunce's arguments so persuade Crockett of the error of his earlier vote that he delivers a speech to Congress condemning federal public
relief as unconstitutional and urges them to donate part of their own salaries to a naval officer's widow.

Chastened by Crockett's words, the representatives vote down the pension for the widow.

It's a tale guaranteed to warm the cockles of conservatives everywhere with that same truthiness that rang true for Engstrand. There's only problem: the dime novelist's version is nearly completely a humbug.

Thank you to those who replied to my query regarding the text of "Not
Yours
to Give," attributed to an 1828 speech by Tennessee Congressman David
Crockett (1786-1836, Congress 1827-1831): under the influence of
constituent
Horatio Bunce, Crockett delivers a speech to Congress condemning public
relief as not consistent with the Constitution. Here is a summary of the
results. Tennessee historians were already aware that Crockett was a
darling
of the Whigs (and their successors) after turning against Andrew Jackson
in
1829-1830, splitting with Jackson over land reform and Indian removal,
among
other issues. He was used as a cat's paw to attack the Democrats even
after
his death. Crockett also allowed himself to be mythologized during his
lifetime as frontiersman, and it can be hard to separate the truth of
what
he said and did from the political/popular media creation he himself
aided.

In the case of "Not Yours to Give," this episode of Crockett's life was
first published in the January 1867 issue of Harper's Magazine (pp. 606-611, speech on p. 607) as "Davy
Crockett's Electioneering Tour" by James J. Bethune, a nom de plume used
by
Edward S. Ellis (1840-1916). ("Bethune" published another piece in
Harper's,
"Walter Colquitt of Georgia" which is also about a wonderful speaker
whose
speeches were not recorded, except in Bethune's later memories. Ellis
was
most well known for his dime novels, "Deerhunter" and other Wild West
tales
for boys.) The 1867 Bethune piece was reprinted by Ellis in his 1884
edition
of The Life of Colonel David Crockett, but it does not appear in his
original 1861 book on Crockett (available at GoogleBooks). Clearly,
Ellis
could not have heard Crockett give a speech that took place 12 years
before
Ellis/Bethune's birth.
[emphasis added]

James R. Boylston published an article in 2004 in The Crockett Chronicle
(November 2004, #6)debunking the "Not Yours to Give"/Horatio Bunce story, and also
addresses
the speech in his new book, David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and
Fall of
the Poor Man's Friend (October 2009). Gale and Seaton's Register of
Debates
for the House on April 1, 1828, records there was indeed a lengthy
debate [ enter 2079 in the "turn to image" window here to read the entire debate, through image 2089] on
whether to award funds to a Widow Brown (wife of a general, not Ellis's
widow of a naval officer); however, although Crockett cast a vote
against
the bill, he was not present for the discussion. Crockett did demand a
roll-call vote [see the Register of Debates image 2085, lower right hand corner] . Contrary to what the Harper's article claimed, however,
the
bill passed the House and the Senate. Ellis states that Bunce's
opposition
to Crockett originated in a vote Crockett made in favor of relief for
victims of a Georgetown fire. However, the fire was in Alexandria, not
Georgetown, and the vote was taken on January 19, 1827 - while Crockett
was
not elected to Congress until late 1827. All evidence points to the
Bunce/"Not Yours to Give" story as a fabrication - as are so many tales
about Crockett, including many he told himself.
. . .

Ann Toplovich
Executive Director
Tennessee Historical Society

In short: Crockett didn't give the speech, as he wasn't present for the debate; the author of the Harper's account, who later incorporated it into one of his books, wasn't yet born before Crockett died at the Alamo; the bill passed; Crockett wasn't yet serving in congress when the vote was taken for fire relief.

Crockett did ask for a roll call vote and voted against the relief for a general's widow, but the bill passed nonetheless. In short, everything else in the post whose truthiness Engstrand so admired is a fabrication.

Given Engstrand's February 2007 speculation that newly elected "liberal tyrants" in Congress would team up with Iran to finish the Holocaust and revive the abuses of Christians favored by ancient Roman Emperors, I'm hoping Republican delegates use Mr. Google-if not common sense-when endorsing a candidate next month to run against Walz.

"We're not talking about truth, we're talking about something that seems
like truth – the truth we want to exist," he explained.He introduced his definition in the first segment of the episode,
saying: "Now I'm sure some of the 'word police,' the 'wordinistas' over
at Webster's are gonna say, 'hey, that's not a word'. Well, anybody who
knows me knows I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're
elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn't true. Or what did or
didn't happen."

81. a million blackbirds gathered over deer standing on the uneven temple roof, then vanished like heat in wind.

84. to stand on the rim of the rainforest far above the glass lake is to forget Apollo ever.

87. the 2 hour trek up the mountain to Bugarama on the old Peugeot track bike with the bent frame and hard leather racing seat only takes 15-minutes going down, half-naked boys in front of mud houses along the road cheering and cheering.

91. the Ink Spots sing on New Year’s Day for free in the Quarter while old women dance around tables spinning little red parasols.

93. knifed and left for bled on Ocean Road in Dar, wrassled to the wound a Ugandan Samaritan, Sebastian the Good.

99. of a persistent runny nose and broken wires, carefully hidden sweet biscuits and hard sucking-candy can no longer sustain life of wife and mother.

01. even when razed to rubble, taking the advice of horse thieves and liars is never wise.

06. the little dog can’t live forever : words suddenly become words.

08. though the police battle with themselves to maintain shudder, the tawny police dog guarding the tall black man is peaceful.

09. of life, and the wife and the children and all the grandkids and brothers and sisters and dogs, and everyone else scribbled in fat crayon on the mirror that is the unfinished book, is why.

Jun 10, 2009

Yesterday, I took advantage of a break in the rain to weed my plot in the local community garden. I'd broadcast lettuce, kale and quick-growing greens between my tomato plants, and it's time to separate the domestic edible from the unwanted.

An older fellow gardener stopped by and furrowed his brow.

"Your weeds look sick," he said, then paused as he got a closer look at the pale plants dotting the ground between the tomato cages. "Oh, that's lettuce."

I took a moment from rooting out ragweed, crab grass, and lambs quarters to explain the method in my madness. The green crops provide cover for the loose soil, as well as being mostly played out by the time the tomato plants elbow out everything near them. In community garden, it's an effective strategy for boosting yields and variety on the small plot.

My neighbor considered this. "Well," he finally concluded, "I don't know how you tell the weeds from the seeds you planted." We said our good-byes, leaving me to make that distinction as I continued my garden chore.

I'm pretty sure he's been gardening longer than I have; that he knew little of the weeds nor the small space gardening technique wasn't surprising. It's not just urban dwellers who lack knowledge about raising food. A former colleague once related the sad tale of outreach education she conducted in public schools in nearby Kandiyohi County for the Soybean Growers Association. Over half the students in each class didn't know what soybean plants looked like, though the town was surrounded by thousands of acres of bean fields.

Earlier in May, I had good reason to be happy that I'd secured the soil in my little piece of heaven. For the first time in my life--most of which has been set in the Midwest--I saw dust storms rip through town and field. Taking the photograph below the fold left my face and eyes gritty, while my next shower helped create micro-mud puddles in my ears that took four Qtips to remove. I'm all for getting close to the soil, but it was a bit much.

Both the dust storms and my garden conservation were underscored by a recent re-reading of 1980s exploration of the ethics and spirituality of land stewardship, as well as more recent news from the Land Stewardship Project and The Minnesota Farmers Union. Both organizations' commentary hit my inbox as I was taking a look back at "Soil and Survival," a book by the late Carol Bly and local (for me at least) writers Joe and Nancy Paddock.

Jun 04, 2009

Twenty years ago in late May, I went to Green Forest, Arkansas, with my fellow graduate student CJ, to conduct a two-day Poets in the Schools workshop in the local junior high

Since Green Forest was rumored to be a hornets' nest of Klan activity and my colleague was a young man from Shanghai. I fretted about what might befall us on the trip in his rickety Chevy Vega into the miasmatic jungles of Arkansas, fears that loomed even larger when we got a flat in the back country.

But there were no hooded boys on the stretch of road those days, and the greatest terror I livedthrough was listening to a tape of Neil Diamond clunk through its endless loop on CJ's 8-track player, a relic even then.

The students' reaction to our PITS team drew from events unfolding a world away in CJ's homeland. Suddenly, for them, there stood before them a Chinese student, like those they had been seeing via satellite since April, protesting as part of the Chinese democracy movement in the streets of Beijing.